Florida Unemployment Down Slightly

TALLAHASSEE (by Alan Spector/FLA. NEWS NETWORK) -- Unemployment in Florida was down last month, but has inched past the national jobless rate.

According to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, the state's jobless rate in June was 6.2 percent, a tenth of a percentage point lower than May's rate of 6.3.

However, it is also a tenth of a percentage point above the U.S. as a whole, which is at 6.1 percent, and that's the first time statewide unemployment has been higher than the national rate in more than a year.

On the plus side, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says Florida led the country in job growth, adding more than 37,000 jobs in June. That was a big improvement from May, which saw 18,000 jobs disappear.

According to the latest figures, almost 600,000 people in Florida are out of work.